The present invention relates generally to flowable dry material dispensers, and in particular relates to a dispenser for dispensing a selectively variable volume of granular material.
Dispensing assemblies that are connected to containers for delivering a solid product are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 559,386 and 2,561,696 each discloses a dispensing chamber that is initially positioned under an opening from a container such that material from the container fills the chamber. The chamber is then moved over a discharge opening to dispense the material.
Other dispensing apparatuses have been proposed, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,835, whereby a dispensing chamber is fixedly positioned with a filling aperture in a top sliding plate and a discharge aperture in a bottom sliding plate. The plates move together from a first position, whereby the chamber is filled, to a second position, whereby the chamber is emptied. Another such dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,300.
While these and other types of dispensers are suitable for delivering a predetermined amount of granular material to a food product, they do not allow the user to selectively vary the chamber volume to control the amount of dispensed material. Accordingly, there is a need for a dispenser including a chamber having an internal volume that can be varied by the user to deliver only the desired amount of material to the food product.